Friday, April 26, 2013

Pink Moon?

So I heard there was supposed to be a pink moon the other night. Having no more information than an obviously photoshopped picture that I saw on Facebook, of all places, we all went outside to try to see it. But we have a lot of mature trees in our area, and we couldn't get a very good view. So we set out in our PJs and flip flops, and got in the car to go find this Pink Moon.

This is what we saw ...


I'm sure that if we had been able to view it at an earlier time, it would have been more spectacular.  We drove for a while, found an empty field, and pulled in. Thankfully, we weren't met by an angry landowner. Not quite pink, but beautiful nonetheless. We will spend the rest of the week and weekend researching this pink moon phenomenon.

Score another one for our little "not exactly" homeschool! :)


Amy









Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Meteor Shower Watch Party

Last night was supposed to be the best night to view Lyrrid's Meteor Shower.  So the kids and I loaded up a blanket, Trey's telescope, and some lawn chairs and sat in our driveway in hopes of seeing some truly spectacular sight.  We saw 2.  lol...

Forgive my photo quality - as I've said before, I'm NOT a photographer by any stretch of the imagination, and my iPhone doesn't really cooperate when I try to tell it otherwise.















We may not have seen the spectacular show that we were expecting, but we did have a good time trying!
Lindsay was super excited at the prospect of staying up a little past her bedtime and being outside at that time of night is a little magical to any child.



Trey searched and searched for more meteors, but they just didn't come.  Maybe we'll go out again tonight...He worked so hard to get it set up just right.  It would almost be unfair to not get to see anything!

The shower is supposed be going on through Friday night, so if you have any youngsters (or oldsters) who are interested, go look in the northeastern part of the sky and see if you can find one or two.  :)



Learning about Money

Please forgive the horrid condition my bed is in - I swear I made it that morning, but something happened after 3 kiddos and 1 tired mommy got home from school/work and needed some cuddle time.  :)

Friday's Life Lesson mainly involved Lulu...I know they've already introduced the concept of money in school, and she knows how to count bills and change.  However, I can't help but see a need for improvement when it comes to understanding the concept of budgeting and saving.  For some reason, my children hate to save their money.  I have tried everything I know to do.  They just don't get it.  I know I sound like my mother - "Money doesn't grow on trees!"

In an effort to begin learning how to budget, I began with the little one.  Last week, I started introducing her to a time/money kit that I bought when we were homeschooling.  It has the standard play money/coins, but it also has a dry erase marker and board, as well as a clock with movable hands.

We're going to start with the basics.  Just getting used to counting our money.  Then I'm going to start taking some of the money away to "pay" for things like dinner, groceries, etc.  When she sees that money is disappearing, I'm going to introduce a checkbook style system so that she can learn to keep track of where her money is going.  Not sure if this will help matters or not, but I thought it was worth a shot.  I plan to do this over the next several months - nothing too grueling.  I'm being sneaky about it - we're learning by playing.  :)  My hope is to involve the older kids as well - but I have to be sneaky about that as well.  As much as they like to think they are all grown up and beyond the "baby toys"....I see the way they eyeball that play money!!  We're one game of "Store" away from a full fledged learning experience!!  :)

Hope everyone has a great week!

Friday, April 19, 2013

Baking Cookies!

Today Loo had a dentist appointment that left her mouth very sore. I took her for a milkshake afterwards, but by the time dinner rolled around, the numbness was starting to wear off. So to take her mind off of it, I suggested that we bake some cookies. Chocolate fixes everything, right?? Her dentist probably wouldn't agree with that assessment.  But we got a good lesson in measurements, and it cheered her up to help Mommy in the kitchen, so what the heck, right?




Anyway, halfway through the cookie making process, Lindsay was in excruciating pain. I felt so bad for her - I hate to see her hurt like that. It just breaks my heart.

I went flying to Target to retrieve all the Orajel they have in stock, and I heard the funniest conversation going on over on the next aisle between a man on his cell phone and a person whom I can only assume was his wife:

"Tampons AND hemorrhoid cream? Seriously? What are you DOING to me??!"

Bahahahaaa!! Poor guy!!

It took all I had to keep my composure - of course I couldn't stand not to peek around the corner (acting like I was looking for heartburn medication of course). He was in his 40's and ha an extremely red face. Haha!! Anyway, I collected my toothache medication and sped home only to find my sweet angel-baby asleep. She's feeling MUCH better this morning, Praise the Lord!   She was a little sad that she didn't get any cookies last night, so I snuck (that's how we say "sneaked" in Texas) an extra one in her lunchbox while she wasn't looking.  That ought to make her smile.  :)

If the sun is still shining after work/school, I think we'll go do a little nature walk and enjoy spring!  :)










Wednesday, April 17, 2013

What I Want to Avoid...

Yesterday I mentioned that I see differences in my kids since they started public school. They're small differences so far, and I suppose that a lot of parents would even consider this to be normal, but they bother me nonetheless.

Here's what I'm talking about:




































As you can see, Lindsay is now a TV Zombie, and Addie has an iPod super-glued to her hand. (As you can also see, I'm NOT a photographer - or a housekeeper evidently.)  It drives me crazy! TV, Xbox, and YouTube have taken over our home, and it's spreading like an infectious disease. Trey couldn't even be captured on film because he was barricaded in his room with some awful video game that he plays online with his friends from school - some sort of military game. He is super serious about it - he has headphones and other "gear". ::Sigh:: I'm not sure how this even started.

Well never fear - MOM is here! I'm going to start working on my lessons for different Life and Social Skills, and we're going to work! I hope they love it as much as the iPod! :).  The good news is that at least Trey still loves to read as much as ever - and often times will choose a book over the xbox, so all is not completely lost.  There's hope!!  Hooray!!

Hope everyone has a blessed day!!



Tuesday, April 16, 2013

How My Life Has Changed in 2 Years...

2 Years since my last post.  That's really sad....for a number of reasons.  Mostly, because we are no longer homeschooling, and as I look back on this blog (and my previous blog, www.angelbugbaby.blogspot.com), and reminisce of a time when life was slower and I got to enjoy my babies all day every day, I can't help but be ashamed of myself for being "too busy" to chronicle the last 2 years here.  I guess I took it for granted that I would always have the option to homeschool my kids, and that the only reason we would ever stop would be if the kids themselves asked to go back.

Things have changed...a lot.  All of my kids are now back in public school, and while they are excelling at it and making straight A's, I see changes in them, their personalities, their spirits.  I hate it.  But the fact is that life happens.  The economy took a nose dive, and when your husband works in retail, that's not a good thing.  We went from living comfortably to living paycheck to paycheck.  I started couponing, babysitting, mending clothes instead of buying new, shopping at Walmart instead of the mall...you name it, I tried it.

So when it became clear that a full-time job was the only option, I cried.  For weeks.  Truth be told, I still do.  But we're going to be ok.  I'm trusting that God has a plan for us.  I have faith.  I do love my new job.  I am back to working in the field of Domestic Violence, although not at the police department as I was before.   I am now a legal advocate at a local non-profit agency.  I worked very closely with this office at my previous job, and so I already knew a lot of people.

The only opening they had at first was in Atlanta, TX - about 40 minutes or so from my house.  I started in August, and by the end of February, I was moved to the local office in town...which I love.  I love my boss, I love the folks I work with....but my heart is still at home.  I've come to terms with it - I'm here for the long haul, and I made a commitment to do a good job.  I'm helping battered women, and I feel like my work is important.  I am so thankful for that.  Otherwise, I'm not sure that I could get up every morning and send my kids off on that big yellow bus.

I have to admit that I was a little nervous about their placement tests for public school.  I knew we were doing grade level work, but I was worried that we were doing different things at different times.  The good news is that my worries were for nothing - they all passed their placement tests with flying colors.  Their teachers are constantly bragging on them - they are usually the only kids that raise their hands with the right answers, and actually participate in class.  Trey loves the library and the various elective classes like photography and video, business venture classes, and athletics.  Addie loves band and all the friends she's made.  Lindsay loves her teacher (we were so lucky), and the science and computer labs, and PE.

I really just wish I had done a better job of chronicling our last 2 years.  I did put quite a bit of stuff on facebook, but I wish I had some way of going back and laying eyes on specific lessons, and fun times that we had during school hours.  I wish I had prepared them better for the possibility of reentering public school.  I always told them it would be their choice.  This wasn't their choice, and they felt a little blind-sided.

But this is what I've decided to do.  Just because we're in school and at work all day, doesn't mean we can't do little mini-lessons at home.  I am going to do a better job of spending our time together being productive as a family.  I don't mean chores or constantly running around.  I simply mean teaching them life skills.  Schools don't do that.  Schools don't teach them manners.  So I am going to step up my game.  From here on, you will see posts relating to Homeschooling the Public Schooled Child.  They may learn Math and English at a public school, but Mom is going to continue the lessons at home.

Stay tuned... :)  Hope everyone has a blessed week...